A $50 million gift from venture capitalist John Doerr '73 and his wife, Ann '75, to establish the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University was reported by Bloomberg, the Houston Chronicle, Inside Higher Ed and more than 70 other media outlets.
A yearlong study of first-time smartphone users by researchers at Rice University and the U.S. Air Force found that users felt smartphones were actually detrimental to their ability to learn. The research by Philip Kortum, assistant professor of psychology, generated coverage by the Washington Post, Huffington Post and more than 60 other media outlets.
For a list of our May-June media stars, please see the last section of this report.
University Relations
Voter registration encouraged during O-Week activities
As part of its annual O-Week voter registration effort, volunteers from the Rice Vote Coalition made presentations in all 11 of Rice's residential colleges during new student orientation and collectively registered 362 voters, almost 40 percent of the new undergraduate students who are eligible to vote. The Rice Vote Coalition was established by University Relations as a nonpartisan group of campus organizations and individuals that encourages voter registration and turnout among Rice students and employees. In addition to recruiting deputy volunteer voter registrars for O-Week, the group undertakes voter registration and Get Out the Vote efforts aimed at upperclassmen and Rice employees as well and helps recruit and train the student poll workers who manage Rice's on-campus voting precinct.
Government Relations
If you haven't already, please join the Rice Community Action Network (Rice CAN), a grassroots effort that encourages our community and friends to advocate for the policies and initiatives that will help win governmental support for our priorities and that equips them to serve as ambassadors for the university. We'll keep you informed about what's going on at the Texas Legislature and in Congress. You can read our recent student updates and talking points about Rice at http://staff.rice.edu/CAN-home.aspx.
Creative Services
In June, Rice hosted the U.S.–China University Presidents Roundtable to discuss global education, research collaboration and cultural exchange. Madame Liu Yandong, vice premier of the People's Republic of China, was the keynote speaker at the event, which drew more than 50 university presidents from all over the U.S. and China as well as other Chinese dignitaries and members of the Houston and Rice communities. Creative Services provided editorial and graphic design services for the roundtable, including a program with biographies for Madame Liu and the university presidents, credentials for all participants and special event banners.
Creative Services designs and edits the annual publication Humanitas, the magazine of the School of Humanities. Humanitas is distributed to all humanities alumni, faculty, staff, partners and donors. The spring 2015 issue featured articles on study abroad, a new professional development program, excerpts from R2: Rice Review, a program spotlight on the Rice Theatre Program and a faculty spotlight on Harvey Yunis, the Andrew W. Mellon Chair in Humanities and professor of classics.
The Owl Club spring solicitation is a timed mailing for Athletics and the Owl Club, the fundraising group for Athletics, which profiles Rice's outstanding student–athletes. This past spring's solicitation featured soccer player Gabi Iribarne '15. Creative Services provided photography, design, editorial work and print management for the project.
Total reach This number reflects how many people potentially were reached through Rice websites and social media during the months of May, June and July: 3,713,202
Passive viewers This number reflects people who have read or been exposed to Rice via Web efforts in the months of May, June and July: 474,719
Web advocates This number reflects people who have actively shared Rice Web and social media content during May, June and July: 26,611
More than 30 people — many of them prominent African-Americans — attended the quarterly Community Dialogue Luncheon in which Sociology Professor Stephen Klineberg spoke about "The Changing Face of Houston's African-American Community: Findings From 34 Years of Houston Surveys." Attending were Chairman and CEO of ChaseSource Tony Chase; Danille Taylor, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences at Texas Southern University; Baker Institute Scholar Quianta Moore; sociologist and community activist Assata Richards; and award-winning film producer Carroll Blue.
Using play to reinvent a neighborhood
Collaborating with the Kinder Institute and the Rice Design Alliance, MCR drew a diverse group of Houston community leaders and Rice faculty, staff and students to a workshop conducted by Los Angeles urban planner James Rojas. In his talk "Reimagine Your Neighborhood Through Play," Rojas encouraged participants to remember what made their neighborhoods special. He then asked them to create a neighborhood by using hundreds of pieces of repurposed objects.
Summer support for college readiness
MCR helped manage four college-readiness camps and activities that brought about 150 high school and middle school students to Rice in June and July. The camps gave the students — the majority of whom would be the first in their families to attend college — information about the admissions and financial assistance process, how to handle an interview and how to write an essay for their college applications. The Texas Diversity Council, the Houston Independent School District and Harris County Department of Education sponsored the camps. For the third straight year, Houston Independent School District provided about $50,000 for the Rice Young Owls Leadership Program. Students came from all over the Greater Houston area to attend the various programs.
Rice hosts Lone Star Awards for journalists
In early June, MCR hosted the Houston Press Club's annual Lone Star Awards ceremony, bringing more than 100 journalists from across the state to Rice's campus. Professional broadcast, print and online journalists as well as students and PR communicators participated in this statewide competition by submitting work covering issues important to Texans, such as immigration, fracking and ethics in government.
Marketing
New Marketing Director Robin Meeks
Rice's Office of Public Affairs welcomed new Marketing Director Robin Meeks to its go-to, can-do team Aug. 24. Before coming to Rice, Robin was the director of marketing for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, Academic Initiatives and Student Success at the University of Arizona. She also has corporate marketing experience with Kraft and Kellogg, among others. She can be reached at 713-348-4616.
May-June media stars
Former Rice football player Christian Covington garnered the highest number of media mentions – 628 – for May and June as a result of the Houston Texans drafting him. Below are Rice experts who were mentioned five or more times during May and June. Media stars for July, August, September and October will appear in the next M&M report.
